Siobhan comes from Ireland and she has been a Conversation Assistant in Col·legi Escorial (Vic) for 9 months and has had a great experience. Thanks for e-mailing us!

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Hello! My name is Siobhan Walsh and I am the conversational assistant at Escorial Vic. I arrived in Catalonia at the beginning of October last year. Ever since then I have been able to experience new things, meet new people and gain a lot of experience.

When I first arrived here I was welcomed into the home of a very special family. I immediately felt at home here and they made the transition from living in Ireland to living here so much easier for me. My second family were exactly the same and luckily for me, so are the third family! I have been extremely lucky!

The school has been no different! All the teachers have been so welcoming and friendly. Even the teachers who have very little English are so nice and always speak with me in Spanish. My two tutors, Gemma and Marta, have been fantastic. They are always there if I have a question or need some help.

The students here are great! My job is to encourage them to speak English through activities and games. I work with students from 3rd class in primary to 4th of ESO. With the 3rd and 4th of primary I assist the teacher in the classroom. We play games and do role plays. With 5th and 6th of primary I do CLIL. I think this is a great idea for the students to learn other subjects in English. We have done topics such as Biology and Geography. In ESO, the larger classes are divided into groups and 6-8 students will come with me to do speaking activities. I have really enjoyed my classes with all of these students. They have been very enthusiastic and we have had a lot of funny moments.

This program is a great experience for people who want to try something new. I have met some great people both through the school and through the program who I know I will remain friends with. I would definitely recommend this experience to other people.